Manager, Program Operations

Emerson College•Boston, MA

2d•$66,270 - $81,200•Remote

About The Position

The Manager, Program Operations is a department-level operational owner of the academic planning lifecycle, responsible for the end-to-end framework including demand planning, schedule build, gate review, registration operations, activity pay, and post-term analysis. This role ensures accurate and consistent execution of each phase for an assigned department and/or academic area, leveraging institutional knowledge and cross-functional relationships to sustain operations through transitions and growth. The Manager partners with academic leadership and central offices to plan and build data-informed schedules, coordinate affiliated faculty hiring and onboarding, administer activity pay, and drive continuous process improvement. The role utilizes enterprise platforms, data analytics environments, and project management tools for record management, data analysis, and workflow documentation to support institutional continuity.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree from a regionally accredited college or university required.
5–7 years of experience in higher education, academic operations, or a related field required; exceptional candidates with 4 years and directly relevant experience will be considered.
Experience with various platforms including Banner, Workday Student and HCM, Argos, Salesforce, and PM tools required.
Experience working with faculty and academic leadership required.
Experience developing and maintaining stakeholder relationships and managing expectations required.
Experience managing high volume workloads in a deadline-driven environment with the ability to manage multiple timelines simultaneously required.
Analytic, technical, and problem-solving skills with the ability to synthesize data from multiple sources to inform planning decisions required.
Deep understanding of the academic planning cycle: demand projection, schedule build, gate review, registration, and post-term analysis required.
Superuser experience with student information systems, communication relationship management and project management platforms required.
Ability to devise solutions with limited information and use experience or precedent to resolve issues required.
Fluency in developing, documenting, and implementing standard operating procedures required.
Detail-oriented with strong time management and organizational skills required.
Excellent interpersonal and communication skills; ability to work effectively with personnel at all levels required.
Able to handle sensitive issues and maintain confidentiality required.
Ability to work autonomously in a fast-paced team environment required.
Fluent in Microsoft Office, Adobe, Google Suite, and project management tools required.

Nice To Haves

Master’s degree preferred.
Experience in course scheduling, demand projection, or academic planning operations preferred.
Experience with affiliated faculty hiring, onboarding, and activity pay processes preferred.
Advanced Excel skills; familiarity with data analytics and AI platforms preferred.
Experience managing budgets, payment processes, and reconciliations preferred.
Familiarity with continuous improvement methodologies such as Lean or Six Sigma preferred.

Responsibilities

Manage annual and semester course planning, demand projections, and section sufficiency, aligning section supply to enrollment trends, program goals, and growth objectives.
Leverage historical enrollment data, cohort progression patterns, curriculum tracks, and student pipeline data to build term-based projections before each schedule build cycle.
Develop and manage course schedules using data-informed planning, continuously improving processes.
Develop and maintain annual and semester cohort calendars and scheduling milestones.
Surface course gaps and section shortfalls each term to inform affiliated faculty hiring decisions before the schedule build begins.
Conduct audits of course assets, academic assignments, and instructor records to ensure compliance and data accuracy.
Identify process improvement opportunities through data analysis and present findings to leadership.
Build and enter course schedules into the SIS, ensuring course caps, waitlists, program attributes, meeting times, modality, and dates are accurate.
Administer availability surveys, section sufficiency reviews, and instructor invitations; manage the full scheduling production cycle through publication.
Participate in gate review prior to registration opening by verifying schedule accuracy, confirm instructor assignments are complete, flag unresolved conflicts, and escalate before the schedule is published.
Monitor registration in real time, tracking fill rates against projected demand; escalate sections trending off-projection with a recommended response before decisions become reactive.
Manage waitlist activity, surface unmet demand signals, and coordinate with the Registrar’s office on protocols.
Track and document post-publish schedule changes, instructor modifications, room changes, modality shifts, cancellations and communicate to relevant stakeholders.
Serve as an end-user of Banner, Workday Student, Argos, Salesforce, and project management tools, ensuring records are accurate and workflows are optimized.
Identify and implement workflow improvements across programs for operational efficiency.
Understand system integrations across the institution and with external partners to troubleshoot issues and support continuity.
Lead the hiring and onboarding of affiliated faculty, optimizing the process for efficiency and a high-quality faculty experience.
Serve as a primary point of contact for instructors, fostering a culture of continual improvement through feedback and process evaluations.
Collaborate with faculty and academic leadership on staff teaching assignments in alignment with operational deadlines and program needs.
Develop and deploy assignment invitations and contracts in alignment with program goals.
Work across departments to assess and deploy systematic processes for hiring coordination, activity pay, course registration, and data integrations.
Project future course planning needs based on course analysis, faculty availability, and staffing gaps; advise academic leadership on hiring projections.
Collaborate with the Registrar’s office and academic affairs on affiliated faculty compliance, audit functions, and job profile standards.
Partner annually with central offices to review affiliated faculty activity status and determine active or offboarding decisions, ensuring records are accurate and compliant.
Support operational functions related to external academic partnerships including online program management relationships.
Collaborate with academic and financial leadership to administer activity payroll processes accurately and on time.
Conduct end-of-term reconciliation of instructor assignments and activity pay to confirm all compensation is accurate and documented before the term is closed.
Identify and resolve payment errors; submit manual activity payments as needed and maintain accurate reporting of assignments.
Analyze assignment and section data for budget reviews and identify improvement opportunities.
Provide accurate financial data to support budget development and forecasting for the upcoming fiscal period.
Following each term, compare projected demand to actual enrollment outcomes; document where projections were over or under- and share findings with academic leadership to inform the next planning cycle.
Report out on course efficiency indicators term-over-term including fill rates, cancellations, waitlist volume, hiring lead times, and pay accuracy to identify recurring patterns or systemic gaps.
Document lessons learned and scheduling logic changes at term close to support institutional continuity and reduce reliance on individual knowledge.
Leverage AI and project management tools to track scheduling workflows, planning timelines, and operational tasks.
Develop and maintain standardized SOPs that support accreditation, compliance, and operational continuity.
Document institutional knowledge, scheduling logic, and workflows to support bench coverage and onboarding.
Represent the area in cross-functional forums; support leadership with data-driven operational and faculty related recommendations.
Collaborate with central offices on reporting, dashboards, and planning tools that support scheduling and demand modeling.
Serves as a key consultant and informant, for program planning, including projections, forecasting, and automation.
Other duties as assigned.